Two dozen black Suburbans lined the streets surrounding the St. Regis on an early fall night. I used to be shuffled rapidly into one after I handed my very own keys to a valet, becoming a member of a number of style editors from huge nationwide publications primarily based in New York and Los Angeles. None had been to Aspen earlier than.

Definitely, they’d attended high-gloss occasions like New York’s Style Week, however it was clear they’d by no means skilled something fairly like the luxurious on show right here.

After which, issues kicked up a notch.

Our vacation spot was a Louis Vuitton-hosted, black-tie dinner and gala celebrating the fruits of a three-day VIP procuring occasion and unveiling of Vuitton’s 2022 Excessive Jewellery line, Spirit, at Kevin Costner’s ranch.

Aspens shimmered gold down the lengthy driveway at Dunbar Ranch, named for his character, Lt. John Dunbar, within the 1990 Oscar-winner Dances with Wolves. Pulling up on the property felt positively cinematic.

Servers welcomed us, as we received out with trays of cocktails that includes tequila, vodka, bourbon — decide your poison. For the subsequent hour, the well-heeled crowd mingled on a heated outside patio with wool LV blankets folded onto the chairs and couches, nibbled on hors d’oeuvres, sipped champagne, took within the surroundings, and traded glances — mentally noting what others had been sporting and the classic of particular version Louis Vuitton baggage they had been carrying.

The visitors moved with the sundown right into a glass, tent-like construction particularly erected for this occasion to maximise the impact of the encompassing nature. The lengthy tables had been dressed with blue-and-gold menus, blue-hued advantageous china with gold flecks, and vases of fall-inspired floral preparations, together with brilliant orange ranunculus and peach dahlias. The ceiling was strewn with what appeared to be back-lit purple and gold flowers specified by a Louis Vuitton motif sample. It could be a four-course, advantageous eating expertise.

Attendees dined on smoked potato and caviar, river trout, waygu beef wellington, and a roasted pear and maple millefeuille, accompanied by a Napa Valley Newton Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, in addition to a 2012 Dom Perignon.

Within the middle of the room stood a runway, and, after dinner started, the lights went down, the music piped up, and a style present rivaling any present in Paris, Milan, or New York started. Fashions strutted up and down sporting Louis Vuitton and, as is perhaps anticipated, had been dripping in diamonds and different valuable stones that make up the Spirit assortment.

Finally, the lights got here up, and satiated from the night — to not point out a number of days of opulence — the visitors headed again to the St. Regis for one final nightcap.

Excessive Jewellery

From the beginning, Louis Vuitton has been identified for high-quality handmade merchandise, wanderlust, and journey primarily based on its dominance within the luxury-luggage market — particularly these iconic trunks, some fetching over $300,000 now.

“The home stays trustworthy to the spirit of its founder, Louis Vuitton, who invented a real ‘Artwork of Journey’ by way of baggage, baggage, and equipment which had been as inventive as they had been elegant and sensible,” in response to press supplies.

And, you will not be conscious, however this additionally contains the gathering of advantageous jewellery and watches.

Vuitton’s entry into jewellery (Its first foray was in 2001, when Marc Jacobs was creative director) is relativity new in comparison with different established advantageous jewellery manufacturers, like Tiffany & Co., Bulgari and Cartier. However, in 20 years, the French luxurious home has produced a few of the business’s most sought-after items, most notably its Excessive Watches and Excessive Jewellery Assortment.

In late June, the Maison unveiled its fourth Excessive Jewellery Assortment, Louis Vuitton Spirit, designed by Francesca Amfitheatrof, the Maison’s creative director for watches and jewellery. At 125 items, it required over 40,000 hours of labor in its Parisian ateliers and took the artisan jewelers three years to supply the right gems.

With sapphires from Sri Lanka, emeralds from Colombia, and rubies from Mozambique, the gathering is Vuitton’s largest so far. It’s imbued with mythological and fantastical creatures and “set in 5 universes, every reflective of the Maison’s values: liberty, grace, fantasy, radiance, and future,” which prominently function triangle shapes and the Vuitton V as recurring motifs.

In mid-October, in the event you occurred to be one of many Maison’s prime 120 or so international VIP purchasers, you’d have had the chance to view and store the Spirit assortment, at 1001 Ute Ave., Aspen.

Aspen is synonymous with standing, wealth, and wonder, so it’s no coincidence Louis Vuitton selected this city and that home as the placement for the U.S. unveiling of those jewels and the following days of actions.

Ute Home

Again in March, the Ute Home was listed for $75 million, the highest-priced home in the marketplace in Aspen on the time. The 20,000-square-foot house boasts seven bedrooms and encompasses a full spa, indoor and outside jacuzzis, a 60-foot indoor pool, and a full-on bowling alley. It gained some pop-culture notoriety when Kendall, Kylie, and Kris Jenner rented it again in January 2021 throughout a ski journey and posted movies of the home on Instagram.

VIP visitors, accompanied by their private model ambassadors/consumers, flew into Aspen to view the Excessive Jewellery and Excessive Watch Assortment and booked non-public procuring appointments in numerous rooms of the home, the place they might attempt on and buy these uncommon items — a few of which had been introduced from Paris and had beforehand by no means been in america.

As purchasers entered the mansion, there was a Louis Vuitton-branded step and repeat manned with photographers and workers decked out from head to toe in LV available to supply champagne or the rest they may want.

Up a flight of stairs, attendees entered a big open-plan lounge that featured a sculptural fire and a grand white Chihuly chandelier, reflecting mild from huge home windows that appeared out onto a view of Crimson Mountain.

Aspen skilled a protracted and particularly beautiful fall this 12 months, and the foliage completely mirrored the golden hue on most of the valuable stones used for the Spirit Excessive Jewellery assortment items.

Which is why the Maison, staying true to their roots of “The Artwork of Journey,” got here to Aspen at the moment and selected the Ute Home.